The Trick is to Keep Breathing
by Sophie1973
Summary: "If you drink this," she said handing him the bottle, "I might shut up for a while." Damon & Caroline friendship, Stefan/Caroline implied.


**So this is a oneshot I had to get out of my system before starting my longer fic ;o) Enjoy & review !**

Damon had decided to ask Caroline for help with Stefan. Even if she was still young, she was the only one strong enough to restrain him if need be.

Also he knew that Stefan and her had developed some sort of friendship and he hoped she would be able to get to him between two cold turkey crisis.

But the way things turned out...he swore to God he hadn't expected that.

* * *

><p>At first Caroline was the only one doing the talking.<p>

Then again she was very good at that.

She came everyday to spend an hour or two with Stefan. They had already gone through the first phase when he entered wild rages and threw both Damon and Caroline across the room. It took a lot of vervain darts to calm him down, and they even had to tie him up.

Caroline hated every minute of it.

Thankfully that was over, but she wasn't sure if what was happening now was a real improvement.

Stefan was quiet but didn't acknowledge her, didn't even look at her or at the bottle of blood she brought with her.

So she kept on talking about mundane stuff, things that were probably of no interest to him at all, but at least it filled that gloomy and heavy silence.

Then she had an idea.

"If you drink this," she said handing him the bottle, "I might shut up for a while."

He took the bottle and drank it all.

She kept her promise, and found out that the silence wasn't so uncomfortable after all.

* * *

><p>"Is he talking yet?" Damon asked one day as she was coming back from the basement.<p>

"No." She hesitated before adding, "Elena wants to see him."

Damon shook his head. "I'm' pretty sure he doesn't want her to see him this way. Of course it would help if he opened his damn mouth and said something."

Caroline felt the anger and worry in his voice. He didn't know what to do, and Damon Salvatore didn't cope well with helplessness.

"I agree. It's too soon." She felt really guilty seeing that, as Elena was so grateful for her help, and all Caroline could think was how she wanted more time alone with Stefan, even if it was only one-sided.

"We'll get to him eventually," she told Damon reassuringly, squeezing his hand lightly.

He squeezed it back.

* * *

><p>Caroline had been pretty sure that Stefan's first would have been for Elena.<p>

She was wrong.

"How's Damon?"

She hadn't expect him to talk all of a sudden so she stayed silent for a minute.

"Uh...he's fine. Didn't you see him today?"

"Yes, I saw him. I just want to know how he's really doing."

She wasn't entirely sure how to answer that, so she opted for honesty.

"Not good. He feels guilty. What you did for him, Stefan...he doesn't know how to deal with it."

Stefan just nodded, lost in thoughts. Caroline was sure he was back to the silent treatment again when he asked.

"What about you?"

She was really surprised – and pleased – that he asked. So she smiled. "I'm good. I'm happy that you're back."

And slowly but surely, they started to rebuild their friendship.

* * *

><p>"We can let Elena see him now," Damon said after a few days.<p>

Caroline stiffened. She knew this day would come. Stefan was much better, he was even out of the basement and back in his room. She had just hoped...she didn't know what she had hoped for.

"Sure. Ok."

"She's his girlfriend, Caroline."

It was like he was reading her mind. _Elena is Stefan's girlfriend. Not you._

"I know," she said, faking a bright smile.

Damon was leaving when she asked, "Does Elena realize that she's only second best to Stefan?"

He turned around, frowning. "What do you mean?"

She gave him a 'duh' look. "Because he chose you, Damon. He chose to sacrifice everything for you. Stefan loves you more than he will ever love Elena, even if it is different kind."

For a second she thought that he was going to start crying, but he quickly recovered.

"Right. What's your point?" When the feelings were too overwhelming he always turned to aggressiveness.

She shrugged. "I don't have any. I was just wondering if Elena was aware of that. If _you_ were aware of that."

This time his face really did crumble, and she had the time to catch it. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything. It's none of my business."

To her surprise, he came back to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Take this advice from someone who tried before : getting between Elena and Stefan will only get you hurt. Trust me on this."

She grimaced and he sighed.

Too late.

* * *

><p>Caroline was sitting on the couch in the library, trying very hard not to cry.<p>

Elena was upstairs with Stefan. Caroline didn't want to know what was going on, and she had shut down her vampire hearing. There was really no need to inflict that on her already shattered heart. She had been so stupid to think that her strong friendship with him and their ever growing complicity could lead to something more.

Damon appeared it front of her with an understanding smile. He knew.

He held out his hand. "Wanna go get drunk?"

"Oh yeah."

She got up and they left the house hand in hand.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Damon found Stefan packing.<p>

"What are you doing?" he asked, stunned.

"I need to go away for a while."

"Away? But you just came back!" Damon said, anger tainting his voice. Stefan stopped what he was doing and approached his brother with a smile.

"Away where I won't be eviscerating innocent people or being a crazy hybrid's lapdog."

"I don't understand. What does Elena have to say about this?"

"Nothing. We broke up last night."

This time Damon was completely speechless. Stefan took the opportunity to continue. "I want to thank you, Damon. For getting me back. I always knew you would. But I really need to get away from all this, just for a while. I'll be back soon."

Damon nodded and cleared his throat. "Do you want company?" he asked, hating the broken plea in his voice.

Stefan shook his head. "I've got that covered already," he replied with a mysterious smile, before hugging his brother for the first time in a very, very long time. Damon, who was not originally in favor of such display of affection, hugged him back fiercely. There was a million things he wanted to say to his baby bro, but none of them were coming out the way he wanted.

So he just whispered, "Be safe."

* * *

><p>Caroline didn't expect anyone at this time of the night, and was perplexed to hear a knock on her door. She was even more shocked to find Stefan on her front porch, looking very happy with himself.<p>

"Fancy a road trip?"

She smiled brightly.

"I thought you'd never ask."

**A/N : For my fellow Gleeks out there,yes, the last sentence is an homage to Holly Holliday ;o)**


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